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Hard left in plot to oust dozens of Labour MPs

A fifth of Labour MPs have appeared on a deselection hitlist drawn up by left-wing activists emboldened by Jeremy Corbyn’s general election success.

The uneasy truce between the party’s factions is at risk of breaking down amid fears of a radical plot to oust moderates.

A grassroots Momentum group in South Tyneside published a list of 49 prominent Labour figures, including Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie and Jess Phillips, suggesting that they should “join the Liberals”. Labour won 262 seats in the election a month ago, up from 229.

Labour bids to defuse Luciana Berger de-selection row

The new Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery has told the Daily Mirror that he doesn’t see the “de-selection” of MPs critical of Jeremy Corbyn “as the way forward”.

Chills had gone up some Blairite spines when Mr Lavery himself had suggested at the weekend the Labour “might be too broad a church”.

But he sought to calm nerves which had been further put on edge by comments from Mr Corbyn’s close ally Chris Williamson, recently re-elected as the MP for Derby North having been narrowly defeated at the 2015 election.